Fluidra Sa

Good morning, and welcome to our full year 2024 results call. I'm Clara Valera, Strategy, Investor Relations, and FP&A Senior Director. Joining me today on this call is our Executive Chairman, Eloy Planas, our CEO, Jaime Ramirez, and Xavier Tintoret, our CFO. They will walk you through a few slides on our results and then they will be available to take your questions. You can follow this presentation in its original English version or in Spanish. Please select your preferred option in the drop-down menu at the bottom right-hand side of your screen. If you would like to ask a question, please find the information and instructions in the Ask a Question tab on the webcast. Please register to receive dial-in details. After the registration process, you will need to press star five on your telephone keypad to ask your question. The presentation is accessible via our website, fluidra.com, and has also been uploaded to the Stock Exchange Commission this morning. A replay of today's presentation will be made available on our website, data today. With that, I hand it over to our Executive Chairman, Eloy Planas.

Thank you, Clara. Good morning and thank you for joining our full year 2024 results call today and for your interest in Fluidra. Jaime and Xavier will provide more detail shortly, but let me start with a few key takeaways. We deliver a strong 2024 performance at the top of our guidance for the year with sales and adjusted EBITDA growing 3% and 7% respectively. Notably, for the first time since 2021, we have returned to year-on-year volume growth. We finished the year strongly, with sales in Q4 up 9% and growth across all regions. This is an excellent performance of performing the market in a mixed environment with a resilient aftermarket but lower demand for new build. We continue to grow margins, driven by the timely execution of our simplification program, which is well on track to deliver the savings expected for the remainder of the plan. We are pleased with the double-digit growth at the net profit level. Guy's generation was strong, consolidating our progress in working capital management and successfully reducing leverage. We are introducing guidance for 2025. While macro and geopolitical uncertainty remains elevated, we are confident we will continue to deliver organic growth alongside further margin expansion. Beyond 2025, we expect to further expand our leadership in a structurally attractive industry with long-term growth underpinned by favorable growth drivers and a recurrent aftermarket. At our Capital Markets Day on 8th of April, we will share deeper insights into our industry, strategy, and why Fluidra is well positioned for sustained leadership in the global pool industry, delivering growth and value for all stakeholders. On the next slide, you can see how over the past five years we have delivered outstanding performance, exploiting our established position to further strengthen our global leading platform. This was achieved in an extraordinary and volatile period whose dynamics I think you are all familiar with. We generated this progress, growth, margin and efficiency, cash generation and capital allocation with a clear focus on delivery and execution. We have grown revenues at a compounded average growth rate of 9%, expanded adjusted EBITDA margins by 300 basis points, and improved return on capital by more than 460 basis points. I am proud of the team and what we have accomplished to date. We are a preferred partner for our customers or performing our peers and having grown our share in a larger industry. The global install base of pool has expanded, building the foundation for future aftermarket demand. We remain focused on driving long-term success by delivering fantastic pool experiences responsibly, offering more connected and sustainable products, and creating value for our stakeholders. We look forward to discussing our results with you this morning, and with that, I hand first to Jaime to continue with our presentation. Jaime, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Eloy. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you today. Moving to our full year performance on slide six, I will provide some highlights and then turn it over to Xavier to share more detail on the financial results. Our strong 2024 performance was at the top end of our expectations. Sales were up 3% year-on-year to 2,102,000,000 euros. Performance in the fourth quarter was strong, with growth across all regions driven by the 8% higher volumes and positive pricing. Adjusted EBITDA was up 8% year-on-year on constant FX and perimeter to 477 million euros, which represents a 23% margin. This reflects the strength of our business model and the action we have implemented with consistent improvement in gross margin, driven by our initiatives to increase efficiency and productivity, together with mix and partially offset by higher OPEX. Xavier will provide more code later. Going down the P&L, adjusted EPS was up 10% year on year. We have managed working capital very well. Operating net working capital to sales in the last 12 months was around 18%, improving 60 basis points versus last year. Cash generation in the period was strong. The ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA at the end of December was around 2.4 times down from last year. On slide 7, you can see on the right-hand side chart the return to organic growth. with volumes up for the first time since 2021, together with a suspected positive pricing contribution. We saw an improving sales development throughout the year with a strong final quarter. North America's sales were up 7% year-on-year, a consistent sequential improvement with good sell-through across our customer base. This performance is a testament to our easy-to-do business with customer-centric approach, our exposure to the Sun Belt, and our meet-to-high-end market positioning. In Europe, where we believe we're also outperforming the market, the recovery we started to see in Q3 continued, with 5% organic growth in Q4. Trading improved as we progressed through the year in a mixed-demand environment with softer markets in France and Central Europe. Overall, new construction demand was as expected, weaker year on year. But this was more than offset by resilient aftermarket demand, shared gains, and not having the correction of inventory in the channel we face in 2023, in particular in North America. Beyond financial results, page eight, as Eloy pointed out, we continue to strengthen our global leading platform, which is recognized by our customers. Let me share some of the highlights of the year. First and foremost, our customer centricity. We have a high quality, innovative product offering with sales from new products launched representing around 20% of total, of which 80% represent products more sustainable than the prior solution. I'm particularly proud we were awarded vendor of the year by the top U.S. distributors for the fourth year in a row. This reflects our sharp customer focus, our attention to service and relationships, and our continued development of cutting-edge pool solutions to strengthen our product offering. Secondly, our margin expansion and investment for growth. We may progress to be a more efficient and effective organization, and Xavier will speak in a bit more detail about the simplification program in a moment. We're investing in our business. both organic and inorganically. In 2024, we announced three Baldwin acquisitions that will help reinforce our leadership in the pool industry. We'll continue to evaluate opportunities as they arise. Last but not least, sustainability is foundational for future growth. You can see on the slide some of our 2024 achievements with our efforts being recognized by well-known rating agencies. With that, I will turn it over to Xavier to explain the financial results in more detail.